Pounding The Keyboard

     A week ago, I bought of a box of tea bags (Yogi Green Tea Kombucha) and I was already on my fourth bag when I noticed that there was message in the label of each tea bag. And last night, on my eight tea bag, the message I got was “Happiness is an accomplishment,” and I thought, yeah, especially in times like these when death, sickness and despair have become part of almost everyone’s life because of the pandemic. Being happy these days will be quite an achievement already.      How to accomplish happiness these days? You can’t do that by listening to Leonard Cohen songs all day. Lol. Or repeatedly watching Melancholia or Million Dollar Baby or other movies that were made to depress you. Search articles on the Internet about how you can find happiness and they will tell you some profound stuff like “letting go of your anger” or “knowing your worth.”   I don’t know but the fragrance of this kombucha tea is making me happy, never smelled a more fragrant tea, and I’ve drunk lots

“Weddings are basically funerals with cake.”                                                    --Rick Sanchez        As I went biking around our masked neighborhood this morning, I thought of going a bit farther and see and visit my sister whom I hadn’t seen personally since the lockdown. I had started pedaling towards her office (which is just a few kilometers away) when I realized that I was wearing just a boxers (and a T-shirt and I didn’t have my wallet and cell phone with me; and I also remembered that their office has strict quarantine rules) so I just went home instead and watched a few episodes of Rick And Morty. And I’m starting now to believe that this animated series is the greatest TV show on earth. Lol. My twenty-two-year old niece (no doubt the smartest person in our house) had been urging me to watch it, and last week, I obliged, and she was right, it’s side-splittingly terrific, though its humor was mostly dark.  Rick And Morty (currently 9.2 at IMDB and 94% at

     After watching him on Edward Scissorhands (1990), Johnny Depp became one of my favorite actors. I love the two Alice in Wonderland movies, and The Pirates of the Caribbean movies, of course. And Sweeny Todd (2007), too. And Ed Wood (1994). A lot of critics say that like Keanu Reeves, Johnny really can’t act, that he’s annoying on screen. `Don’t care, for me, he is entertaining. And Keanu, too, certainly. So in his current legal battle against his former wife, actress Amber Heard (he was suing her for libel for claiming that he physically abused her during their marriage), I am cheering for him. He is denying that he abused her, claiming that it was actually her who (physically and mentally abused) him during their marriage. Actually, I really am not interested in their legal fight (lol) but this heart-wrenching testimony of him about his ex-wife appeared on my News Feed this morning:      "She was beautiful, seemingly incredibly interested in me and my work, and I fel

     So this hideous government finally shut ABS-CBN down, for “possible” and “apparent,” (both the congressmen’s words) violations, meaning the culpability of the network wasn’t really established, and all these violations could be settled with the courts, but still those repugnant congressmen decided to close the network, effectively rendering thousands of people without livelihood—during a pandemic when companies all over are closing down and people are starving.      Plain evil.      The issue is a tiny bit personal to me because I had the opportunity to work for ABS-CBN as a freelance writer. I worked on three projects (all teleserye ), one got abolished before it could really take off, the second, we'd finished all the pre-requisite works (meaning, all-night meetings, brainstorming) and we only needed the lead actor (a very famous action star) to sign the contract so we could proceed writing the scripts.   The head writer would write the pilot and I would handle the sec

     I wasn’t aware of it, I had no idea that it existed but my niece insisted that I watch it, and that I’d enjoy it, and since I had not been feeling well these past few days and was just staying in front of TV all day, I acquiesced and watched Hamilton (the 2020 Disney version). Hamilton is a Broadway musical about Alexander Hamilton, George Washington’s right hand man and stars Lin-Manuel Miranda. It turned out to be a great decision as I really did immensely enjoy it. The play features hip-hop, R&B, rap and soul music, which aren’t really my kind of music but most of the songs (and lyrics, especially the lyrics and the voices) are really good. The weakest voice probably is that of the lead actor’s.      The story’s compelling and also enlightening as it will teach you a bit about the history of America. And my favorite song from the show? “You’ll Be Back,” sung by Jonathan Groff ( see video here) , a declaration of love from King George III to his colony (America), telli